Oz pubcaster adds Star TV's Dunstan
McGarrity ankles as shake-ups continue down under
Current head of development Ian McGarrity leaves the ABC next month. Dunstan was prexy of Oz's Prime TV Intl. for the last two years.
As new ABC managing director Jonathan Shier has made his presence felt at the pubcaster as several veteran executives are leaving, including longtime head of news and current affairs Paul Williams, replaced by the ABC's award-winning European correspondent Max Uechtritz.
After senior executives Andy Lloyd James and Hugh McGowan walked the plank, the incumbent heads of TV (Ron Saunders) and multimedia (Colin Griffiths) are other likely departures, in the wake of the surprise appointments of former "60 Minutes" producer Gail Jarvis as head of TV and Kiwi e-commerce executive Lynley Marshall as director of ABC Online.
One of the few ABC veterans to emerge from the restructuring is ABC regional radio head Sue Howard, who has been upped to overall director of radio; ABC NewsRadio head Lissa McMillan will be her deputy.
Observers say Shier is eager to boost ABC's ratings and reduce its reliance on British programming from the BBC and Channel 4.
